[Sh Ranger]

Damn.... So Shioya really did get Hitopressed and killed after all. The flashback to his encounter with Otake leaves basically no room for any other possibilities. And even worse, Nyelve had ordered the hit as a favor to Suga, a man who's been manipulating Hanto for who knows how long. Suga claims he's been doing this for 20 years (Asanuma looks so young) and considering how Sae was abducted 18 years ago, could Suga be responsible for every tragedy that Hanto has suffered since the start? Poor Hanto cannot catch a break.

Dente confirms Suga's statement that the Granute organ is required for Hanto to become Valen. However, thanks to combat data on Dark Valen, Suga was able to create the Bake Magnum as a Rider System that can be used by a regular human like himself, albeit with a dehydrating side effect that he wants to find a way to mitigate. I wonder if this is how Sachika might end up as a Rider, with him using her as a test subject. Bake looks awesome in action, but due to Gavv pulling his punches against a human, I guess we'll have to wait to see his full potential. The henshin looks unpleasant from his perspective though, like he's being Baked in an oven.

Shioya was a good and wise mentor and I hope Hanto can get through this despair and avenge him.